Cruisers....Beware the first year!

[charles_reed]

Price of a Big Mac can be used to determine the economy of a country, Boss has used this example for years. Chickens are definitely the way forward, that's brilliant! So tonight involved a "Rockestra" concert (amazing orchestra and vocalists, 13000 people in the stadium) then drinks in Malta which cost roughly 4 1/2 chickens thanks OldBawley for your story.

The Economist "Big Mac" survey. Though done tongue-in-cheek, it's a very accurate comparison of cost-of-living in various countries.
Currently I find France and UK the most expensive cost-of-living European countries - though, I suspect, when I go to Finland it will exceed those two.

 

[dslittle]

So, two coffee´s in a waterfront café costs one chicken, a night in a marina equals about a dozen of birds and a taxi drive of ten minutes costs five chickens.
Imagining five of those meals, the decision to walk twenty minutes is easy to make. Healthier to.

My missus has done this using 'carry outs' but I like the chicken currency - far better to compare local prices.

 

[OldBawley]

Chicken currency

It is not only to compare local prices, for me it made me reflect on the consumer way of life.
When we wintered in the Göcek bays we ware except for a weekly sail to the market effectively cut of from shops and other modern conveniences. We liked it that way, it was a little boys dream to camp in wilderness and live as the cowboys.
Fishing, hunting, gathering burning wood, doing a bit of boat maintenance, exploring the wild Lycien land.
I read that even the Lycien slaves only had to work four hours a day, Its paradise. Put a stick in the ground and it grows. More water in those days, unharmed forest.
I soon realised we are not used to this sort of life any more. It is not hard work, it´s even fun but been self sufficient takes a lot of time. Preparing the fishing net, laying it in the evening, hauling next morning, cleaning, cooking and conserving fish and birds, wow, its almost a day job.
It was there that I realised the value of a ready to cook chicken. It is there I learned that lots of easy bought stuff is massively over priced.
Just an example. Yesterday I had a talk with a Greek water taxi owner. Waiting for clients he was fishing. He used a small fishing lure resembling a small fish. He lost the lure, caught into something on the bottom. Put on the next one, I had a look at it , made pic, asked what he paid for that piece of plastic the size of a half smoked cigarette. Ten Euro he said. S**t, while he had only earned seven that morning. ( One € a trip from Galatas to Poros )
That piece of plastic real cost is less than 0,05 Euro, Anchored, sitting in my cockpit throne and watching yachts sail by, I make them myself from a splinter of wood, some copper wire and a glued on miniature shell. Painted with glitter nail varnish. Cost zero.
I remember that Lucky Luke and the Daltons ware always cutting pointy sticks sitting by the camp fire, I cut lures.
Two and a half chickens in the wallet, just some spare time, and a bit of cutting with a sharp knife.
Capiche ?

 

[SamanthaTabs]

OldBawley, I truly hope you're writing memoires - praise where it's due, this stuff will entertain generations of your grand kids one day if nothing else! "A chicken in the wallet" would be an excellent read

 

[GHA]

Good post, maybe worth adding at the start, don't try to see everything, it's all good. Nice long passage then when you find an anchorge you like, stay til it feels like time to leave.
Planning ahead doesn't seem to have any connection with how much fun you have.

 

[OldBawley]

A lot of cruisers will not agree, I think planning is the first thing to get rid of.
Mind, I do a lot of long term planning, Swimbo says it´s just taking a nap. Planning can be done but sticking to the plan is highly dangerous. To many changing parameters.” There can be an issue” to quote the AC sailors.
Swimbo is from a Northern country where if they say “We leave tomorrow at six for Nirvana, they do leave at six. Not ten past six. Not my kind of thing, I leave when the wind is good. That can be at 4 in the morning or at noon next day. My behaviour causes lots of stress with Swimbo, her whole planning ruined. Even Nirvana is not for sure, I mostly end up somewhere totally different from what we ware planning. The wind you know.
Since a good relationship is almost nr one in cruiser necessities, I have the habit of involving someone absolutely untouchable in our decision-making. So as the first mate asks what the plans are, I usually indicate our next destination followed by “ Inshallah”.
That was in Turkey, I now refer to an other bearded person. Result are roly eyes of Swimbo, my but is saved.
Some time ago I had been long term planning way to long on a lovely uninhabited island, result was that we had just one day to sail to the ferry departing harbour. First mate was going on summer leave. It was just twenty miles, the Meltemi would start the day after, promised to be a nice sail. This time I had to stick to the planning, planes don´t wait.
Our boat has a dieselbug problem, if possible I don’t start the engine, that way nothing can go wrong. Turned out, the Meltemi was early, against a small but sneaky current. We had a bad day.
Lost the dingy sailing rig, the anchor winch handle, a coil of the best anchoring rope and my self esteem. How could I have been so stupid not to reef in the bay? My mountain bike, tied onto the davits was soak t into seawater, it took us ten hours before the anchor fell again. I had been standing ten hours in a blazing sun, my hat was useless, a wet rag in a lot of wind, the rim covering my face, exhausted, thirsty, but in time for the ferry.
That is what sticking to a plan is all about. Had I turned the boat downwind the sail would have been a joy. Swimbo could have taken a taxi and then a water taxi to Poros.
Would have costed lots of chickens, sailing costs nothing. Damned chickens.

 

[keithgdg]

For anyone planning on going cruising in the near future beware of your first year.

Most cruisers spend their first year treating it like a bit of a holiday. If you do all those hard earned pennies you saved will soon disappear

We can look back now with hindsight and wish we had done things a little differently.

Hopefully a few of these points may help.

1) Stay out of marinas where possible. The costs will soon mount up and be your biggest expenditure. If you do go into one haggle. They will often reduce the price. If you are in France then go in after 20.00 and leave before 0800 the following morning. It seems to be standard practise by the French to avoid costs. If you can anchor then do so.

2) Be aware that you will motor far more than you thought you would. You will make excuses that the wind is on the nose or there is too little of it. Keep those sails up! You may arrive an hour or two later but so what. You save fuel bills and wear and tear on the engine.

3) Get sufficient means of creating electricity. In this laptop age they will suck your batteries dry in no time.

4) Avoid restaurants. You can cook better food yourself at a fraction of the price.

5) Take Anti foul and as many spare parts needed for servicing the engine with you. They are up to twice the price abroad.

There may be many other ideas other cruisers will have but beware your first year. If you don’t watch out that five year cruise will become a 5 month one!

And maintain, restore, service, and replace everything from the tip of the ariel to the bottom of the keel!! Proud to say I have and feel a lot more confident should something go wrong I stand a good chance of fixing it!!

 

[Border Terrier]

Don't go to the western wed if you can help it and money is a concern.

Head for the Caribbean and spend your sterling in a dollar economy. You can anchor pretty much everywhere for free.

Then head for the USA for hurricane season and cruise the ICW staying for free every night courtesy of skipper Bob's guide to anchorages on the ICW before finally taking a municipal mooring ball off Manhattan in NYC for 30 bucks a night.

At the end of hurricane season head south and do it all over again

Or head for the eastern med.

Via Bermuda!

 

[Nostrodamus]

I agree with old Bawley to a certain extent. The wind is up today so we shall move on. We planned to go sort of eastwards but we won't know until we are out there just where we are going. I have five places I am aware of but which one will depend on the wind and how we are feeling.
This is another lesson from the first years sailing... just because the place you had planned on is directly on the nose when it comes to wind you don't have to motor, there are always alternates. Never, never let time dictate.